The Drowned

by John Banville

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

The Drowned is a period series mystery set in Ireland by John Banville. Released 1st Oct 2024 by Harlequin on their Hanover Square imprint, it's 304 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. 

Banville is an exquisitely writerly writer. The mystery (isn't really much of a mystery until the very end) is 100% character driven and that's what should draw readers to the book. Folks looking for a Poirot style "gather everyone in the library for the big reveal" will likely toss this book out their train window. The ending is *abrupt* and mish-mash and about 87% unresolved at the end. Fair warning.

The book is quite elegantly written and the characters (including the dog which isn't anthropomorphized at all, thankfully) are real and believable. They feel and fight and "have relations" and murder one another and it's believable as written by the author. Most of the characters in the book (sans aforementioned dog) are unlikable or downright loathsome by varying degrees.

It's an extremely broody, threatening book. There's a sense of dread throughout and it's ever so slightly off-kilter. It's disorienting and pervasive. The ending was a major disappointment, and readers who need their mysteries to be resolved by the time the epilogue shows up will not like this one. Readers who read for the joy of the language will be in raptures.

Four stars, almost entirely on the strength of the writing. Continuity from earlier books is tenuous, and some (not all) context is provided, so it does mostly work as a standalone. There are some triggers, such as pervasive racism, antisemitism, sexism, infidelity (from cover to cover), pregnancy loss, child death, pedophilia (with one rather explicitly described scene, but mostly from a character's distant past), alcoholism, and a few others.

Readers will either love or hate it, without a lot of overlap. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.